March Madness has finally arrived!
The 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has officially kicked off, with two thrilling First Four games held on Tuesday night. Two more exciting matchups are set for Wednesday night before the first round tips off.
Brackets for March Madness competitions worldwide are set to lock in at noon E.T. on Thursday, giving you just under 24 hours to finalize your picks.
While the dream of a perfect bracket lingers in the minds of many, the reality is that the odds are incredibly slim. In fact, the chances of achieving a flawless bracket by randomly guessing or flipping a coin for each pick are a staggering 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
For those with a deeper understanding of the sport, the odds improve but remain daunting at 1 in 120.2 billion, according to the NCAA. Knowledge of current teams, tournament history, and the sport itself can slightly boost your chances, but perfection remains elusive.
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“Your chances will increase with more knowledge of the current teams, the tournament’s history, and an understanding of the sport itself. For instance, before UMBC’s historic upset of Virginia in 2018, it was practically a guarantee that all four 1 seeds would win their matchups, giving you four automatically correct games to start off with. But that type of knowledge is near impossible to quantify or accurately factor into an equation,” the NCAA explained.
Although Warren Buffett famously offered a $1 billion prize for a perfect bracket, the reward has since been adjusted to $1 million for life for the winner, with $100,000 for the best bracket among Berkshire Hathaway employees. Despite the enticing prize, no one has ever achieved the feat in any official competition.
In 2019, one individual came tantalizingly close to perfection, correctly predicting the outcome of the first 49 games before stumbling in game No. 50.
As the madness unfolds, may luck be on your side, and may the brackets be ever in your favor!
